Canadian impresario David Mirvish has unveiled the lineup of nearly a dozen shows that will welcome audiences back to his Toronto stages, including returns of productions that have been dark since the pandemic shutdown, delayed titles with revised timelines, and a few new picks.
The mainstage season begins in December with the 50th anniversary production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar. The Timothy Sheader-helmed production, which originated at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, was originally slated to play this fall.
The North American premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt will follow, running January–March 2022 at the Princess of Wales Theatre. Like Superstar, the production, directed by Patrick Marber, began across the pond, with a West End bow in early 2020 that recently returned for an encore engagement.
The musical adaptation of the Emma Donoghue novel Room, which was announced back in early 2019, is now slated to play the CAA Theatre in a February–April run as a co-production with London’s Covent Garden and Ontario’s Grand Theatre. Kathryn Joseph and Cora Bissett penned the score, with the latter also directing. The title is also a part of the three-show “Off-Mirvish” season, which also includes Jake Epstein’s autobiographical solo show Boy Falls From the Sky and the light-and-sound experience Blindness.
Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt will then team up for an encore of 2 Pianos, 4 Hands, which had previously played Toronto prior to having engagements in New York, London, Tokyo, and more.
Three Canadian premieres—all once again from the U.K.—round out the mainstage season: David Haig’s Pressure, the newly condensed, one-part version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (now beginning in June at the Ed Mirvish Theatre instead of the previously announced May), and the North American debut of the jukebox musical & Juliet, which is being billed as a pre-Broadway run.
Two blockbuster musicals are also confirmed to resume Toronto performances: Come From Away and Hamilton, though in the case of the latter, audiences will have to “wait for it” until 2023. Come From Away, meanwhile, reopens at the Royal Alexandra Theatre December 7 this year.